


home

by thecrabcycle



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Forehead Kisses, Gen, established rinniki, mentions of tatsumi himeru and madara
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26599648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecrabcycle/pseuds/thecrabcycle
Summary: Maybe this is somewhere he could call home, even if it was only going to be temporary.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	home

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO KOHAKU NATION. oomf on twitter said there wasn’t enough kohaku so person with ruby llsif icon!! this is for you. i had planned to post this when double face released but i have been a busy bee with school so
> 
> edit: hi i don’t actually know if it was a ruby icon but i’m too late this is for the kohaku fans

By the time Madara drops him off his motorcycle, Kohaku’s legs feel like jelly. The desire to crumple into a mush pile has never clashed with his need to find somewhere to sleep so violently. He’s not far from Niki’s apartment, he told Madara that on purpose just so Kohaku had time to reconsider if he wanted to ask, but now he’s deciding if it’s worth it to call Madara back to take him directly to Niki’s building. 

The cake-y sensation of makeup leaves its ghost on Kohaku’s face, making him scratch at his skin while he drags his weary body to the complex. Up the several flights of stairs (seriously, who lives on the third floor?) down the row of doors, until he reaches the second to last apartment.

He knocks sluggishly, pleading that Niki will take some sort of blessing to come rushing in. When there’s no response, he knocks again. And again. From inside, there’s a distinct muffled “Come in!”, only from Niki himself. Kohaku feels the cosmos kindness in full.

Stepping in, he toes off his shoes (albeit violently, Madara ties his shoes really _tight._ He pads his way to where he knows Niki is, Rinne’s head curled into his lap as Niki reviews something on the short table. He throws himself, gently, onto the floor. 

“Hi Niki-han.”

“Another hard day at work?” 

“You could say that.”

Modeling wasn’t exactly hard, but maybe Kohaku isn’t used to working as an idol. It’s draining to be picked and preened, not to mention his double face outfit defying how clothes should logically be put on. Somehow, it’s more embarrassing to ask Madara for help than Himeru; the latter is much more willing to keep quiet about how charming it is that Kohaku can’t _dress_ himself. Madara just feels like his senpai who wants to pat his head over and over and tell him he did. Rabu would’ve definitely called it cringe. 

“Why don't you tell me about it? I don't think Rinne-kun feels like moving.” Despite the defeated tone, Niki gazed fondly at Rinne’s sleeping face, rubbing his thumb over the other man’s jawline. 

“Though, if you wanted to tell Himeru-kun instead of us, he just left with one of his other… Friends?”

“Kazehaya-han came here?” Kohaku cocks his head, he doesn’t really know Himeru’s social circle well outside or Crazy:B and Kazehaya Tatsumi.

“Well, more like he left in a fit after receiving some texts? I think they're going to Himeru’s apartment. You're welcome to stay, though, Kohaku-chan.” Niki smiles at him, kind and loving. There's no ill intent behind any of his gazes, but there's always been something simmering in Niki that disappears when he's with Crazy:B. It’s one of the few comforts Kohaku has come to cherish. 

“If you'd want to go to Himeru’s apartment, I’ll have Rinne-kun walk you, or myself. Though I can’t promise he’d want company.” Niki looks slightly discontent, clearly the prospect of going out so late sounding like nails on a chalkboard. Kohaku doesn’t really want to go, either. 

“M’fine, Niki-han. But, I’m pooped. I didn't think modeling was gonna take so much outta me?” Kohaku slumped, curling up on himself in Niki’s cool air conditioning. “All these ladies kept pokin’ me with brushes. There's nothin’ wrong with my face as it is!”

Niki mindlessly pet Rinne’s hair, smiling at Kohaku. “I’m sure nothing’s wrong with your face, but you get used to people pampering you like that! The perks of being an idol, or something.”

“‘S not comfortin’ when ya tell me you're sure ‘nothing’s wrong’ when I’m right in front of you, Niki-han.” Kohaku tried to look unimpressed, but Niki only laughed at his dismay. 

“Anyways. Madara-han was real nice about the whole thing. He was tellin’ me how he’s not really into modeling. He was more of a… ah…” Kohaku wracked his brain cells, he couldn't quite remember what Madara had told him. “Mm. forget it, it’s somethin I can remember in the morning.”

“It’s sounds like it was fun for you, at least,” Niki pulled out his ponytail to tie it higher. “Do you know when the magazine will be out? I’ll make sure to get lots of copies! Hang them up and frame them all over the place, Himeru-kun knows a lot of stores to buy that kind of stuff.” Niki cooed, “Just for our little Kohaku-chan!”

Kohaku groaned, rolling his eyes. “Really, you shouldn't. Yer embarrassing, awful, awful people.” Kohaku sinks further, threatening to vanish under the table entirely, yawning. 

“You don’t mean that!” Niki feigns hurt. “We love you, our wittle kohaku-chan…” He sounds astonishingly like Rinne when the other man is unconscious.

“Ugh! Stop that, geez. Can we just go to bed? Yer just gonna embarrass me more if we don’t.”

Niki chuckles fondly. “I won’t keep you any longer then, Kohaku-chan. How about you rest up for tonight, and tomorrow you can tell me and Rinne more about the modeling job?” Niki could always tell when their group needed a break, maybe caring for Rinne really did give him a motherly instinct. Niki gently began lifting Rinne’s head, stirring the older man awake. 

“I guess that's fine, Niki-han. I don't have to stay, I can really—”

“And let you out there alone?! Kohaku-chan you're going to sleep on this futon tonight if I have to padlock you here!” Niki scowled at the younger, all while smacking the side of Rinne’s face so he’d stand on his own. 

Kohaku tried not to think about how nice it was for Niki to baby him, it wasn't really hard to begin with. If he wanted to, he just have to pull out big, sad, pleading eyes and Niki would’ve melted. Rinne does it on Niki all the time, apparently. Speaking of Rinne, who’s stumbled all the way across the apartment to the bedroom ‘door’, has taken Niki hostage in his arms. Kohaku deems this time to look away, to look at his phone, to look at literally anything else.

The quiet tells they’re probably going to kiss, it makes Kohaku want to cringe. And vomit. Both. At once. 

Niki returns eventually, fluffy blankets in hand, and a pillow that uses a velcro strap to become a stuffed animal. Kohaku’s slept over before, and he knows it's oddly comfortable. Also is very personal to Niki, who sulked for a good few hours when Himeru told him he didn't sleep with a pillow. 

Niki lays out the blankets on the couch, and sets the pillow flat, lastly pulling back the topmost sheet. 

“C’mon, bedtime.” He smiles, and it feels warm. Not the warm he gets from someone like Rabu-han, who makes his heart pound like hummingbird wings. Warm in a way that makes him feel unconditionally loved, cared for. It's impossibly foreign, maternal might be the word. Paternal seems fit to his discretion, but he's honestly not sure what the word means. Or what word he's looking for. 

He crawls from the table, to the futon that Niki set up. He lets Niki do what he wishes, pulling the blankets up to Kohaku’s chin, fetching a carnival stuffed animal from weeks before, and finally tousling his hair. He walks away from Kohaku with a quiet “goodnight”, flipping the lights off. 

(If Niki pushes back the top of his bangs to kiss his forehead goodnight, no one has to know it made Kohaku feel like family.)

He decides to listen for Niki’s signs of rest before going to sleep himself, the light padding of socks and the muffled creak of mattress springs, rustling of sheet adjustment, then silence. 

He breathes in, then out. Listening to himself.

He’s still alive, against a lot of odds, and he's having fun, also against many odds.

 _It’s not so bad_ , Kohaku thinks, _having people who care like this._ He’s happy, Niki’s apartment smells like cooked dumplings and laundry sheets, sometimes like soy sauce. It’s strangely _Niki_ and also Rinne as well. It’s something, like a puzzle he enjoys piecing but he can’t quite put together yet. 

He hears Rinne fall from his bed, a loud thud and groan followed by profanities, and Kohaku can’t help but laugh a little.

It does feel like somewhere he could call home.

**Author's Note:**

> surprisingly! not tatsuhime but maybe soon idk


End file.
